11.12: Quality Control for Service Providers

What if you were late for a test because it took you twenty minutes to get a burger and fries at a drive-through window? Like most people, you’d probably be more or less disgruntled. As a customer, you’re constantly assured that service will be of the highest possible quality, and you tend to avoid brands that have failed to live up to your expectations. When you go to a drive-thru window, you expect to be served in a reasonable amount of time. If your expectations are not met, you’ll conclude that you’re the victim of poor customer service.

Customer-Centric Approach

Quality in service businesses starts with understanding customer expectations. Service providers like hotels, restaurants, and consultancies focus on exceeding customer satisfaction by continuously improving customer interactions, responsiveness, and personalized service. This includes using customer feedback and measuring satisfaction levels through surveys and reviews.

Employee Training and Empowerment

For service businesses, employees are the core of service delivery. Regular training is essential to ensure employees have the skills and knowledge to meet customer needs and adhere to quality standards. Empowering employees to take initiative and resolve customer issues promptly is a key component of maintaining quality.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Quality in service businesses is managed differently from manufacturing, but the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and continuous improvement still apply. The TQM concept involves all employees; when customers wait too long at a drive-thru window, it’s the responsibility of a number of employees, not the manager alone.

TQM ensures quality, and it also considers the customer. A good example of a company that benefited from TQM is Exxon. With the fuel business ever so competitive, Exxon felt the need to explore customer-related issues by using TQM rather than relying only on competitive pricing.^[1]

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

While SPC originated in manufacturing, it is also applicable in service industries, particularly those where consistency and quality are essential, such as call centres, healthcare, and financial services. SPC in services focuses on maintaining consistent service quality and improving processes that affect customer satisfaction, such as wait times, error rates, or customer complaints. For example, in a call center, SPC could be used to monitor the average wait time for customers, ensuring that the process remains efficient and that quality service is delivered consistently.

Just as in manufacturing, services benefit from standardized processes. For instance, fast-food chains like McDonald’s rely on standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistent product and service quality. This is particularly important in service industries that rely on repeatability, such as healthcare or education, where maintaining consistent service delivery can prevent errors.

Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)

Kaizen translates to “change for the better” or “continuous improvement.” The concept became widely known through its use in Japanese manufacturing, particularly at Toyota, and has since been adopted globally across industries. Kaizen is a continuous improvement approach focused on making small, incremental changes to processes, aiming to enhance quality, efficiency, and service delivery. In the service industry, Kaizen encourages employee involvement and ongoing efforts to improve customer satisfaction and operational performance.

Quality in service businesses is not static. To achieve continuous improvement, service businesses often use tools like customer satisfaction surveys, service audits, and performance evaluations. These methods allow businesses to identify gaps in service delivery, implement improvements, and monitor progress.

Measuring Service Quality (SERVQUAL)

The SERVQUAL model ^[2] is commonly used in service industries to measure quality across five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. This framework allows businesses to identify specific areas where they can improve to meet or exceed customer expectations. For example, in the hotel industry, quality is measured by guest satisfaction, cleanliness, check-in and check-out speed, and staff behaviour. Hotels often employ mystery shoppers to assess the service quality and use ratings from travel websites like TripAdvisor to track performance. Hospitals and healthcare providers use quality metrics like patient satisfaction surveys, wait times, and treatment success rates to evaluate service quality. They also focus heavily on training staff, ensuring compliance with health regulations, and improving patient care processes.^[3]